Let us come together as one humane family, help educate to liberate and advocate for the humane rights of all people upon Mother Earth!”And you will know the truth, and that very truth will make you free."~John 8:32

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Re: Roxana & Leonard: Political Prisoners Exchange?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Gracias Dear Dear Brother Harvey ~ We will do what we can and we should continue to help spread the news, raise consciousness and remind people about the continued injustice of the imprisonment of Brother Leonard Peltier: our noble warrior!

Last Saturday, Iran sentenced journalist Roxana Saberi to eight years in prison on charges of espionage after a brief closed door trial. She had been living in Iran and working as a reporter, although the government claimed it had withdrawn her press credentials.

The harsh sentence handed down to the North Dakota native has generated a global outcry. Major media outlets and even President Obama have called for her release.

The Iranian government knows that all eyes are on them and there is mounting pressure for a fair trial. Both President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Head of the Judiciary Shahroudi have urged Tehran's chief prosecutor to investigate the case. Shahroudi said, "a fair examination of the case, especially at the appeal stage, is the defendant's right." This case comes at a critical time; President Obama has offered to start a dialogue with Iran and break a 30 year diplomatic deadlock.

The Iranian government has not released any evidence against Roxana and reports indicate she was pressured into making statements that were used against her in the legal proceedings. It seems she has become a pawn in the political maneuvering that is unfolding in Iran's relations with the United States.

Her harsh prison sentence is yet another example of the increasingly severe crackdown on those exercising their rights to peaceful freedom of expression and association in Iran. The government of Iran has recently imprisoned and persecuted numerous bloggers, journalists, labor activists, students and members of religious minorities.